Help with MBP display issue

Hi guys, I'm having a problem that hopefully someone more familiar with Macs can help me out with. I will try my best to explain.

I have a 13" MBP (mid 2009). I got a new Samsung TV a few months ago. I also have an external monitor that I've been using since getting the MBP last summer.

Ever since getting the TV, and using it as an external display in my living room, to use the MBP with Plex etc... I have been having a bit of an issue. I do not know if the TV has anything to do with it but I've only noticed it since that time, and am trying to provide context. I have not noticed this at all during the year of using my external monitor.

Basically, sometime when I go to use my MBP WITHOUT a monitor now, my display will be too dark. I do not mean too dim with the backlight, I mean too dark, as in too black, too contrasty. Also the colours are slightly saturated. All my photos I have edited are too dark and have high black levels, and areas that I could see before are not dark or black.

When I first started noticing this, I could just plug my MBP back into either external monitor, the displays would take a second to set themselves and then I would unplug again and the Internal display would look proper again and I would go about my day.

I am at my moms this weekend, and I booted up my MBP to do some photo work, and it is doing the whole 'too dark' thing. I don't have any cables or displays to try 'resetting' it like at home, so I thought I'd look into finally figuring out this quirk.

It is not the colour profiles. I can still go and change those in the settings and they do change the colours, but still everything looks too dark. Ie. I change to the stock setting and it changes it but darkened. I change it to my SAMSUNG setting and it changes it but darkened. It is as if some other setting/file/something is causing it.

Out of curiosity, I enabled the guest account. When I log in, display is normal. My levels look right and I can go to some photos and they look the way they should, the way I edited them to look.

Go back to my profile and its too dark again. Also you can notice when you log in, my background shows up and then a second later you can see the shift to darker/saturated.

I tried resetting PRAM. I booted into SAFE MODE, and it was still too dark. I'm just wondering if someone familiar with this stuff knows of something I can do to get it to stop this behaviour. Sometimes it looks fine and acts as it has all year. I would use it with external monitor at home every day and 4 days a week I'd unplug it and take it to school. Never had this issue until this summer.

I'm going to the cottage for two days, so I wont be responding often saturday and sunday (unless I can get internet on my iPhone).

I appreciate any help. If I were at home I would just do the quick plug in/unplug external fix that has been working, but I figure I shouldnt be doing that anyways, so I'd like to get to the bottom of this. It seems to be something to do with my own profile, as the guest profile does not do this. I would like to avoid a fresh SL install possible, or wiping all my system preference settings or something of that nature. I do have my machine backed up in time machine if it comes to that though.

Sorry for long winded post, I wanted to try and be clear about the behaviour. Also, I have searched on here and on the net but most results relate to backlighting, or various other display anomolies that don't relate to my issue.

 

I am still having this problem, and can't find anything online about it so I was hoping someone here might have some insight.

Basically, if I reboot while away from home (and not plugged into an external monitor) and I log into my user account, the screen goes darker, as described above.

If I have left home and open my macbook, it is fine, even after sleep. It only happens if I've rebooted, and logged into my account. Doesn't occur when I log into guest account.

I don't want to have to reinstall and start a new user account and move all my programs etc..

 

STILL having this problem. I don't reboot often, but it is annoying that when I do, I must plug into an external monitor to get the colours to reset to normal. I have a new Mac Mini hooked up to my TV so I no longer leave my MacBook Pro hooked up to the tv. So now when I do need to reboot, I'm less likely to be near one of my external monitors.

I was searching again, and found some old Tiger bug related to DMproxy or something. It sounds similar, except instead of too bright it is too dark, and it happens on log in to my account instead of fast user switching. Haven't tried fast user switching on my macbook since I just have the one account.

Any help?

 

Yeah it has to be something in my profile, I just didn't want to have to reconstruct all my settings and apps etc. Especially if I bring everything back in and recreate the problem. I was hoping someone may know more about the topic and know of some specific plist or files to look at/delete.

I'm not sure it is a colour calibration/profile problem because switching between profiles doesn't reset to normal. It will switch profiles but a darker version of it if that makes sense.

 

I'll change the title, thanks. This thread is rather old, didn't think to edit it now. **won't let me change thread title, maybe too old...

I just took a screenshot while in the darkened state, and then one afterwards, but since the screen was back to normal, so was the screenshot. Both shots are identical.

I edited one of the shots by playing with the levels to simulate the problem. Not 100% accurate, but it gets the point across.

The first is the darkened image, second the normal image.

*edit* missed your link, thanks. Does sound similar to my issue, especially because most of the searches I found over time have not been close enough to the same issue. I will check out the Universal Access settings and see. Not sure how I could get it to revert to normal though without that changing.

Also to note, this isn't a backlight issue, as a lot of search results mention. Backlight works fine and adjusts as it should automatically as well.

 

I checked the Universal Access pref pane and everything was as it should be, and I didn't need to change any settings. However, I just logged back in and all seems to be well? I wonder if some app or utility or something was accessing the 'Enhance Contrast' function for some reason at login. Reopening the preference pane may have reset something(?), as I can't remember the last time I have opened that pane since I don't use any of the feature there.

Thanks for the link to that thread, I had never seen that possible solution in all the threads I have searched about this over the last few years (though admittedly off and on, as I came to just accept the problem).

 

Yeah thanks I just kept coming back to the thread when the problem would bother me again or I was feeling investigative. With Mountain Lion coming up I was hoping to find a solution in case I needed a clean install.

I had been searching for display problems, colour profiles and contrast issues, I guess saturation was the key

Seems to be ok for now, something to do with the Universal Access preferences pane.